Homing In On Division

Red Sox Head To New York With Lead

BOSTON — The Red Sox will not be doing any scoreboard watching this weekend in New York. For the next three days, the Yankees will be squarely in their sights.

For the first time in a decade, the Red Sox won't be looking up at their rivals in the standings in September.

But the Red Sox weren't buying the hype after concluding the longest homestand of the season Thursday night with a 3-0 loss to the Angels at Fenway Park.

By going 10-4 on the homestand, the Red Sox increased their lead in the division from 2 1/2 games to four over the Yankees. The teams begin a three-game series tonight at Yankee Stadium. The Red Sox have led the division 52 straight days and 76 of the last 77 days. The exception was July 18 when they fell a half-game behind the Yankees. The Red Sox's biggest lead was 5 1/2 games Aug. 10.

``We needed to do what we did,'' Red Sox manager Terry Francona said. ``We'll put this one behind us and we'll go into New York. It's not very hard to get excited to play there.''

No players wanted to hear that it is the first time since 1995 the Red Sox are in first place in September.

Players refused to ponder the possibility of leaving New York with an even firmer grasp on first place while delivering a blow to the Yankees' wild card hopes.

``We're just staying focused in what we have to do in this clubhouse,'' Kevin Millar said. ``I wasn't here in 1995 and really don't care about that stuff. We have to go in and play good baseball, simple as that.''

It hasn't been simple for the Red Sox on the road. They are 34-35 away from Fenway Park. That didn't matter to some.

``We've been playing good,'' Johnny Damon said. ``Going into Yankee Stadium, we expect to win. Our team expects to win every night.''

The team that has given them the most fits this season is the Blue Jays, who are 8-3 against the Red Sox. They play a three-game series in Toronto after the Red Sox play the Yankees.

The Red Sox couldn't do much against Angels righthander Paul Byrd, who pitched seven shutout innings and allowed four hits. He started the eighth and was replaced by Scot Shields with two on and none out after Kevin Millar doubled and Bill Mueller walked.

What Shields did next was nothing short of remarkable. He struck out Manny Ramirez, pinch hitting for Tony Graffanino. Ramirez took a called strike on a 2-and-2 fastball on the outside corner.

After walking Damon to load the bases, Shields struck out Edgar Renteria and David Ortiz, both looking. Renteria had only taken a couple steps toward the dugout when Angels pitching coach Bud Black headed to the mound for a chat with Shields.

Rather than challenge Ortiz as he did Tuesday night and throw a fastball that got clobbered for a walk-off homer in the ninth, Shields froze Ortiz with a 3-and-2 changeup and pumped his fist as he trotted off the mound.

``He made some of the best pitches that you'll see,'' Francona said. ``He painted on three guys.''

The Red Sox mounted another threat in the ninth against closer Francisco Rodriguez, putting two on with one out before Millar struck out swinging at a wicked slider. He was thinking fastball all the way.

``I wasn't going to come off the fastball,'' Millar said. ``I can't hit his breaking ball anyways. So I was going to stay with my strength.''

Mueller walked to load the bases, but Rodriguez struck out pinch hitter Roberto Petagine on three pitches to end it.

And with that the Red Sox began to focus on the Yankees.

``Obviously you look at the standings to see where you are but, to be quite honest, this game is so humbling that things will change in a heartbeat,'' Trot Nixon said. ``Just go day by day and you don't look ahead. The minute you start looking ahead, it gets turned upside down. Obviously it's always a big series when we play these guys and rightfully so. It will be a huge series again. The top two teams, first- and second-place teams going at it, but other than that, that's about it.''